Dio. That were to blow at fire, in hope to quench it; For who digs hills because they do aspire, Throws down one mountain, to cast up a higher. O my distressed lord, even such our griefs; Here they're but felt, and seen with mistful eyes 1, But like to groves, being topp'd, they higher rise. Cle. O Dionyza,

Who wanteth food, and will not say he wants it, Or can conceal his hunger, till he famish?

Our tongues and sorrows do sound deep our woes
Into the air; our eyes do weep, till lungs

Fetch breath that may proclaim them louder; that,
If the Gods slumber 2, while their creatures want,
They may awake their helps to comfort them.
I'll then discourse our woes, felt several years,
And wanting breath to speak, help me with tears.
Dio. I'll do my best, sir.

Cle. This Tharsus, o'er which I have government, A city, on whom plenty held full hand

(For riches strew'd herself even in the streets); Whose towers bore heads so high, they kiss'd the clouds,

And strangers ne'er beheld, but wonder'd at;
Whose men and dames so jetted3 and adorn'd,

1 The old copy reads:

and seen with mischiefs eye.'

The alteration was made by Steevens, who thus explains the passage: Withdrawn as we now are from the scene we describe, our sorrows are simply felt, and appear indistinct, as through a mist.' Malone reads:

unseen with mischief's eyes.'

i. e. • unseen by those who would feel a malignant pleasure in our misfortunes, and add to them by their triumph over us.'

·

2 The old copy reads, If heaven slumber,' &c. This was probably an alteration of the licencer of the press. Sense and grammar require that we should read, 'If the gods,' &c.

3 To jet is to strut, to walk proudly. See vol. i. p. 338,

note 3.

Like one another's glass to trim them by *:
Their tables were stor❜d full, to glad the sight,
And not so much to feed on, as delight;
All poverty was scorn'd, and pride so great,
The name of help grew odious to repeat.
Dio. O, 'tis too true.

Cle. But see what heaven can do! By this our change,

These mouths, whom but of late, earth, sea, and air, Were all too little to content and please,

Although they gave their creatures in abundance,
As houses are defil'd for want of use,

They are now starv'd for want of exercise:
Those palates, who not yet two summers younger 5,
Must have inventions to delight the taste,
Would now be glad of bread and beg for it;
Those mothers who, to nousle up their babes,

4 Thus in the Second Part of King Henry IV. :—
He was indeed the glass,

Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves.'

Again in Cymbeline :

'A sample to the youngest, to the more mature
A glass that feated them.'

5 The old copy has :

who not yet too savers younger.'

The emendation was proposed by Mason. Steevens remarks that Shakspeare computes time by the same number of summers in Romeo and Juliet:

'Let two more summers wither in their pride,' &c. Malone reads:

who not used to hunger's savour.'

6 Steevens thought that this word should be nursle; but the examples are numerous enough in our old writers to show that the text is right. Thus in New Custom; Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. i. p. 284:

'Borne to all wickedness, and nusled in all evil.'

So Spenser, Faerie Queene, i. vi. 23 :—

'Whom, till to ryper years he gan aspyre,

He nousled up in life and maners wilde.'

'It were a more vauntage and profit by a great dele that yonge

Thought nought too curious, are ready now,
To eat those little darlings whom they lov'd.
So sharp are hunger's teeth, that man and wife
Draw lots, who first shall die to lengthen life:
Here stands a lord, and there a lady weeping;
Here many sink, yet those which see them fall,
Have scarce strength left to give them burial.
Is not this true?

Dio. Our cheeks and hollow eyes do witness it.
Cle. O, let those cities, that of Plenty's cup
And her prosperities so largely taste,

With their superfluous riots, hear these tears!
The misery of Tharsus may be theirs.

Enter a Lord.

Lord. Where's the lord governor?
Cle. Here.

Speak out thy sorrows which thou bring'st, in haste,
For comfort is too far for us to expect.

Lord. We have descried, upon our neighbouring
shore,

A portly sail of ships make hitherward.

Cle. I thought as much.

One sorrow never comes, but brings an heir,
That may succeed as his inheritor ;

And so in ours: some neighbouring nation,
Taking advantage of our misery,

Hath stuff'd these hollow vessels with their power7,
To beat us down, the which are down already;

children's wyttes were otherwyse sette a warke, than nossel
them in suche errour.'-Horman's Vulgaria, 1519, fo. 86.
Nousleed in virtuous disposition, and framed to an honest
trade of living.'-Udal's Apopthegmes, fo. 75.

So in The Death of King Arthur, 1601, cited by Malone :-
Being nuzzled in effeminate delights."

.

* Hollow, applied to ships, is a Homeric epithet. See Iliad, v. 26. By power is meant forces.

And make a conquest of unhappy me3,
Whereas no glory's got to overcome.

Lord. That's the least fear: for, by the semblance Of their white flags display'd, they bring us peace, And come to us as favourers, not as foes.

Cle. Thou speak'st like him 10 untutor❜d to repeat, Who makes the fairest show means most deceit. But bring they what they will, what need we fear? The ground's the low'st, and we are half way there11. Go tell their general, we attend him here,

To know for what he comes, and whence he comes, And what he craves.

Lord. I

go, my lord.

[Exit.

12;

Cle. Welcome is peace, if he on peace consist 12 If wars, we are unable to resist.

Enter PERICLES, with Attendants.

Per. Lord governor, for so we hear you are,
Let not our ships, and number of our men,
Be, like a beacon fir'd, to amaze your eyes.
We have heard your miseries as far as Tyre,
And see the desolation of your streets!
Nor come we to add sorrow to your tears,
But to relieve them of their heavy load;

8 A letter has been probably dropped at press: we may read, ' of unhappy men.'

9 It has been already observed that whereas was sometimes used for where; as well as the converse, where for whereas. 10 The quarto of 1609 reads:

'Thou speak'st like himnes untutor'd to repeat.'

'Like him untutor'd,' for 'like him who is untutored.' 'Deluded by the pacific appearance of this navy, you talk like one who has never learned the common adage, that the fairest outsides are most to be suspected.'

1 The quarto of 1619 reads:

But bring they what they will, and what they can,
What need we fear?

The ground's the low'st, and we are halfway there.'

12 i. e. if he rest or stand on peace. See vol. v. p. 336, note 23.

And these our ships you happily may think
Are, like the Trojan horse, war-stuff'd within,
With bloody views, expecting overthrow 13,
Are stor❜d with corn, to make your needy bread,
And give them life, who are hunger-starv'd, half dead.
All. The gods of Greece protect you!

And we'll pray for you.

Per.

Rise, I pray you, rise; We do not look for reverence, but for love. And harbourage for ourself, our ships, and men. Cle. The which when any shall not gratify, Or pay you with unthankfulness in thought, Be it our wives, our children, or ourselves, The curse of heaven and men succeed their evils! Till when (the which, I hope, shall ne'er be seen), Your grace is welcome to our town and us.

Per. Which welcome we'll accept; feast here a while,

Until our stars that frown, lend us a smile. [Exeunt.

ACT II.

Enter GOWER.

Gow. Here have you seen a mighty king

His child, I wis, to incest bring;

A better prince, and benign lord,

Prove awful both in deed and word1.

13 The old copy reads:

And these our ships you happily may think
Are like the Trojan horse, was stuff'd within
With bloody veines, &c.

The emendation is Steevens's. Mr. Boswell says that the old reading may mean, elliptically,' which was stuffed.'

1 i. e. 'you have seen a better prince, &c. that will prove awful,' i. e. reverent. The verb in the first line is carried on to the third.